Sop Saudara: Makassar Beef Soup with Rice Vermicelli and Perkedel

Start with beef shank and bring the aroma closer

Imagine it. In the evening kitchen you lift the lid, and the fat of beef shank is layered with lemongrass and makrut lime leaves, and the white of thin rice vermicelli shows through the steam. In the bowl are perkedel, a boiled egg and fried shallots. The heat isn't decided in the pot: you dissolve in sambal a little at a time. That is the fun of making sop saudara at home.

Sop saudara (also written Sop Sodara) is a beef soup associated with Pangkep and Makassar in South Sulawesi. It is not simply a broth of boiled beef. Rice vermicelli, potato perkedel, egg and fried shallots are layered in the bowl, and the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism's guide to Makassar cooking also records a way of eating it with warm rice or grilled milkfish. The same guide describes it as a dish that combines a beef soup with rice noodles, potato cakes, offal and boiled eggs.

What home cooks struggle with is less the beef than "how close to the original to go." If you want to approach a bowl from a shop that handles offal, there is room to choose lung or liver, but beef shank is plenty the first time. Use only 20 g of galangal, the core of the aroma, and fry the aromatic paste in oil before returning it to the broth. Keep to those two things and even without offal the direction of the dish is hard to miss.

Even among Indonesian soups, it is different from soto ayam (in Japanese), with chicken in a yellow broth; rawon (in Japanese), which uses black nuts; and Coto Makassar, with its rich nutty flavor. Sop saudara is a bowl that stretches a meat soup to the border between a staple and a side dish.

Background: from Pangkep celebrations to Makassar eateries

Fixing on a single origin would flatten the history of sop saudara. In a 2022 detikSulsel interview with H Abdullah himself, H Abdullah, from Pangkep, tells how he worked in the 1950s at Sop Sentral in Makassar and started his own shop at Pasar Senggol. He explains the shop's name as "Saya Orang Pangkep, Saudara," that is, "I am a person from Pangkep, brother," and says he also added intestine, lung, heart and so on to the beef. Another report names the founder as Haji Dollahi, so I do not assert the details of years and names. This article treats only what is common to several records: people from Pangkep expanded the meat-soup business in Makassar.

On the other hand, an Indonesian government cultural document, Makanan dan Minuman Tradisional, describes Sop Pangkep as a dish from a shop run by two brothers, and gives another account in which customers called it "sop sodara" and the name spread. What the two records share is that a person from Pangkep, a shop in Makassar and closeness with customers are tied to the name. A story of migration and trade, which you can't tell from the name of the dish alone, remains in the bowl.

Another thing this cultural document tells us is that sop saudara was not at first only an everyday restaurant dish. It is recorded as a dish served at circumcisions, weddings, birth celebrations, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, house moves and thanksgiving gatherings. Today you eat it at eateries, but in Makassar families it also remains as a bowl for celebrations and guests. Adding noodles, potato and egg to a beef soup is a device for filling the stomach with one pot, and also a way of serving in which ingredients are stacked up as if saying to the guest, "have this too."

At least in Good Indonesian Food's visit to Warung Pangkep, the writer chooses from beef liver, tripe, the gelatinous cut of beef foot called kikil, and fried lung. In that record, rice vermicelli and perkedel were cited as the difference from Coto Makassar. At home, make beef shank the star and prepare noodles, perkedel, fried shallots, lime and sambal separately. Even without offal, the pleasure of assembling the bowl by the person eating it remains.

Ingredients (serves 4)

This makes four large bowls. If you serve rice separately as at local eateries, allow about 150 g of cooked rice per person. If you try lontong-style rice to put in the bowl, press 500 g of cooked rice to a thickness of 2 cm, chill it and cut it into 2.5 cm cubes. This is a variation for home kitchens, not the local way of eating itself.

Telling the aromatic ingredients apart

Galangal resembles ginger, but replacing it with ginger alone rounds off the outline of the aroma. Its local name is lengkuas, makrut lime leaves are daun jeruk and fried shallots are bawang goreng. When searching at import shops or online, both the English and these local names help. On days you can't find galangal, increase the ginger by 10 g and grate a little lime zest at the end: it becomes a different aroma, but it disperses the heaviness of the beef.

Buying aroma: galangal is not a stand-in for ginger

Beef, potatoes, eggs and rice vermicelli can all be gathered at a nearby supermarket. What is worth seeking out is galangal. Increasing the ginger only makes the ginger stronger, and the slightly hard, woody aroma of galangal does not come back. In sop saudara only 20 g goes into the paste, so buying frozen and dividing the rest into portions suits it.

Buy it if you plan to use it in other Indonesian dishes such as soto ayam and rawon. If you will make this only once, the substitute of 10 g more ginger plus a little lime zest is fine. When buying frozen galangal, look for a pack of about 200 g in a form you can cut and use, rather than chilled or powdered.

Don't decide the heat in the pot; move it in the bowl

Sambal oelek is used not to turn the soup red but so that each person can add heat in their own bowl. If family members differ in how hot they like it, it is worth buying. If you rarely use hot things, substitute the red pepper flakes you have along with lime, without adding another jar. Check the ingredient label when you buy.

Use a good cumin to keep the aroma consistent

Cumin is only 1 tsp, but it sets the outline of the aromatic paste. Ground cumin that has been open for a long time has a weak aroma, and even if you buy galangal, the depth of the beef is hard to bring out. If you will also use it for other Indonesian dishes or curries, there is a point in using a reliable brand to set a standard for aroma. If the cumin you have smells good, you don't need to buy more.

The condition for buying is that you use the ground spice a little at a time and want to put reproducibility of aroma first. The condition for skipping is that you always keep whole cumin on hand, or don't want to add a spice just for this one bowl.

Method: simmer, fry, assemble in the bowl

Fry the aromatic paste in a separate pot and simmer the beef quietly. Don't simmer the rice vermicelli, perkedel, rice and egg in the soup for long. Layering them in order in the bowl lets you keep both the clarity of the broth and the texture of the fried elements.

What goes wrong: cloudy, tough, weak aroma

If the soup clouds, the beef was boiled too hard. Rather than bringing it to a boil at once over medium heat, take about 12 minutes to warm it, and drop to low heat when the foam gathers. If it has already clouded, turn off the heat, leave it 10 minutes, skim the foam and excess fat from the surface and rewarm over low heat. It does not return to clear, but the mouthfeel can be made lighter.

If the beef is tough, it hasn't simmered enough. Add 200 ml water and extend by 15 minutes at a time over low heat with only small bubbles at the edge. Beef shank varies in time with its size, so don't stop at the number 70 minutes. Look for a skewer going into the center and the fibers loosening when you press the meat.

If the aroma is weak, the aromatic paste wasn't fried enough. Putting the paste straight into the soup leaves the raw taste of onion and garlic and keeps the galangal and cumin from standing out. Go back to frying it in a skillet over medium-low heat until oil seeps out at the edge. If it smells burnt, loosen the bottom with 2 tbsp water and don't return the blackened bits to the soup.

If you've added too much sambal and it is too hot, don't dilute with water alone: rehydrate 20 g more vermicelli and add 50 g of rice. A little squeezed lime also takes the edge off the heat. To keep the richness of the beef broth, add water to the whole pot last.

Storage and reheating

Don't leave the soup in the pot at room temperature; divide it into shallow containers and cool it quickly. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' caution on stewed dishes (in Japanese) also advises cooling as quickly as possible and putting the dish in the refrigerator or freezer. Eat refrigerated soup as soon as possible; as a household guide, from the next day to about 2 days. Keep the vermicelli, rice, perkedel, garnishes and sambal separate. Stored in the soup, the noodles absorb liquid and make the next day's bowl heavy.

To reheat, put only the soup in a pot and warm it over medium-low heat for about 8 minutes, stirring from the bottom. It is important to heat it thoroughly to the center; Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare gives 75°C or higher as the guide for reheating leftovers. Pour boiling water over refrigerated vermicelli for 10 seconds to loosen it, and warm the rice in a microwave. Baking the perkedel in a toaster oven for 3 minutes brings back the toasty surface.

If you freeze, freeze only the soup and beef, thaw them in the refrigerator over half a day and then warm over low heat. Put suddenly over high heat, the meat tightens and the fat separates. If anything seems off in smell or appearance, discard it rather than tasting to check.

What to serve with it, and how to serve it at a home table

Sop saudara is a meal in the bowl alone. The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism's guide introduces eating it with warm rice and grilled milkfish beside it. In a home kitchen, a little salted mackerel or white fish grilled under a broiler makes a menu that recalls the Pangkep table. On days you don't want to add fish, warm vegetables like gado-gado (in Japanese) are enough.

Setting the sweet peanut sauce of sate ayam beside it makes the flavor directions overlap easily. If you want to continue with rich beef dishes, rendang (in Japanese); if you want to compare clear soups, going on to soto ayam (in Japanese) makes the regional differences of Indonesian cooking easier to see.

When serving at home, put the sambal, lime and fried shallots in separate small dishes. Only those who want heat get heat, and those who want sourness can adjust in their own bowl. Rather than reproducing the local bowl exactly, keeping it in a form where the person eating decides the final flavor is easier to continue.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a different dish without lung and offal?

The first time you can make it with beef shank alone. In Makassar eateries some places let you choose liver, tripe, kikil and fried lung, but offal raises the hurdles of preparation and availability. If you keep the beef broth, vermicelli, perkedel, fried shallots, lime and sambal, you can preserve the outline of the home version.

Do I put the rice in the bowl or serve it separately?

Either is fine. Indonesian cultural documents and tourism guides describe serving rice or ketupat alongside. Serving it separately keeps the soup from being diluted, and putting about 80 g in the bowl makes it easier to eat as one dish. This article uses separate serving as the base.

What do I do if I don't have galangal?

Increase the ginger by 10 g and add a little lime zest. The aroma won't be the same, but it disperses the heaviness of the beef. If you want to try the aroma of galangal, buy frozen once and divide the rest into portions, and using it in soto ayam and rawon too leaves little waste.

Can I substitute glass noodles for the rice vermicelli?

Yes, but the rice aroma and texture weaken. If you use glass noodles, use 80 g and soak them a little shorter than the package says, then drain. Transparent noodles feel light in the soup, so not skipping the perkedel and fried shallots makes it more satisfying.

Can I make it ahead?

Yes, but store the soup, noodles, rice and perkedel separately. Divide the soup into shallow containers and cool it quickly, and when eating, stir from the bottom and reheat thoroughly to the center. Don't eat anything left at room temperature for long, or anything that seems off in smell or appearance.

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